scarey

why is miami going to get much better? lebron, wade and bosh are basically at the peak of their careers right now. the supporting cast blows, but unless they luck into some awesome late draft picks they're not going improve much. they don't have the cap room to go out and sign anyone really good; it'll just be the mike millers and mike bibbys of the world rotating through as their supporting cast. Under the current salary cap structure, I believe the Heat would get a Mid Level Exception that would allow them to go out and sign a quality big man, then continue to fill out the rest of their roster with Millers and Bibbys who want to take less money to play for a championship team. Unrestricted free agents for the Heat after this season: Mike Bibby Erick Dampier Eddie House (P) Juwan Howard Zydrunas Ilgauskas (P) James Jones (P) Jamaal Magloire I understand we haven't seen most of these guys this series outside of Bibby, but they rode a lot of those guys through the regular season. They're going to have to get somebody to take those minutes. And if even one of their big three has a serious injury, they become a completely different team. Also, I think people forget that Wade is going to be 30 years old next January, and he's had some pretty major surgeries on his shoulder and knee. I don't know how many years he can keep this up.

Wouldn't that same hard cap restrict the Bulls with Boozer, Noah, Deng, and a future big payday for Rose? Not if you can package Noah+Deng for Howard. The Bulls must pull off a trade of some sort because this formula is whack. Listen to yourself. You see his signature, right?

Yeah if you're any other team but the Miami Heat. Oh, I know they won't call that on LeBron, I just asked if it's supposed to.

Isn't it supposed to be a technical when the scoring player stares down the defending player?

That is almost never called on LeBron. Only in this situation.

Or we could get a SG that can score and play adequate defense to open everything up for Rose. But your way is good too. It totally makes sense to dismantle the team that won 62 games and had the best defense in the league all because we ran into a team that could exploit our few weaknesses in the conference finals. Yes because the Bulls didn't overachieve at all this season. Defense is great, but at the end of the day we have very limited offense with a PG as our primary scorer. Against the Pacers and Hawks the Bulls have looked pretty shaky offensively. I'm convinced your a Heat troll. Or you haven't watched a lot of NBA basketball. One of those.

That's not factoring in free throws, right? It is not. I'm not on the up-and-up with basketball metrics, so I'm not even sure if that's something you can easily look up. I would think there wouldn't be a huge variance as the successful basket AND made foul shot probably brings it back pretty close when you figure in missed buckets and missed free throws in those cases.

I think he's just not a great 3 point shooter having only added it to his arsenal this year. While it sucks to watch him miss so many threes, it's important he keeps trying to work on it so that it forces defenders to come out to him on the perimeter and thus opening up the key for him to drive into. Also, the efficiency isn't good, but he scores about .997 points per 3 point field goal attempt compared to .962 points per 2 point field goal attempt. In the scope of the whole season, that's not terrible. I the context of one game, it understandably is significant he misses those shots though of course.

I agree that's part of it. I don't think that's the whole story though.

The games aren't played in a vacuum. I don't understand why this is supposedly so crazy. I understand why it's crazy when people say stupid things about how so-and-so team is paying the ref or whatever absurd statement the meathead fans like to throw out there when they're upset their team is losing. I don't think my argument belongs in the same realm as that though. In my mind, this is more like the "superstar" fouls. There's nothing stating that refs give them out. Refs don't gain anything from making that call. Nobody is whistle-blowing on it. It is good for the NBA. When you see Kobe swish a jump shot, you add a touch foul and an and-1 and it's suddenly a highlight on Sportcenter. It's good exposure for the league. The only difference here is I'm pretty sure we all acknowledge that "superstar" fouls do exist.

Having a drawn out, dramatic, and widely watched playoff series improves the reputation of the NBA as a whole thus giving a potential for improvement of many lifestyles. I don't think there's anyone making a phone call to each referee before the game telling them to make sure the Heat lose game 4. I thought I made that clear and apologize if I didn't. I'm saying I believe there is an underlying culture that longer playoff series, especially one that involves two teams that are likely to be rivals for years to come, is beneficial to the NBA. If there's an opportunity to extend the series, even if it's a small influence, then it's an opportunity that needs to be taken advantage of. I may be wrong on this, I seriously don't have a clue... but don't the refs get paid an amount per game they officiate? I don't want to try to sound overly sarcastic or mean spirited, but do you really believe there is a risk of an NBA referee damaging his/her reputation? Again, I don't think there's any phone calls made, any closed door meetings, or any official documents being distributed here. For one thing, the NBA is already facing financial insecurity, we all know that. Secondly, I think you underestimate how much of an impact a long, hard-fought series between the Bulls and Heat would make on the NBA. The NBA is all about rivalries. I can almost guarantee the Bulls and Heat will square off on Christmas day next year. Every time they play next year during the regular season will be a featured game and it will draw ratings. I could elevate the perception and increase ratings across the board. Not to mention, there's 3 superstars involved with the two teams as well as some all star caliber talent to market to the masses. It's something the NBA could really use right now.

I don't think they tell them to call it blatantly in one teams favor. They're not going to make fouls appear out of thin air. I do think, in a case such as this, they influence the refs to give the Bulls the benefit of the doubt on calls in game 4. If there's two players going for a 50/50 loose ball and they make obvious contact, the Heat player will be tagged with the foul. I don't think this suggestion is any more ridiculous than people that claim NBA refs called the games in order to make personal gain, and that one came out to be true with Donaghy.

A 2-1 deficit going into game 4 in one of the highest rated televised NBA playoff series. Let's just say Miami fans will be unhappy with the refs after next game.

That's not what happened at all though. They shot a higher percentage than we did in game 1. The Heat shot a higher % in both games and should have won both games imo. The Bulls had many many lucky breaks in Game 1. We cant rely on luck if we're going to win 4 games against the Heat. The Bulls must shoot a higher % to win the series. What lucky breaks did they get though? I'm going to have to watch the game again as I'm too irritated about Game 2, but the CJ Watson fadeaway 3 is a big one that sticks out. If you can't understand how dominating the Bulls were in the first game after one watch, then don't even bother going back to look again.

Serious question. Are you a Heat troll?

Miss Lippy's car... is green.

It's funny, LeBron can't pull his [expletive] pump shot and draw the foul on Omer because Omer doesn't have to jump to defend the shot.

The ball was on the floor and Miami gets a time out?

They didn't want him playing defense and the Heat using the possession to try to slap him with his third foul.

Donaghy! DONAGHY!

This is a truely sad collection of NBA fans. These are the front runners. Those weird fans that don't have allegiance to a team but to players. I saw one guy in that thread mention how Barkley was his favorite player growing up but now he hates him because he picked the Bulls. I saw a different poster state that Reggie Miller was his favorite but he hates him now because he was excited over the Gibson dunks. Yet another had a picture of Jordan in his signature that had he and Wade shooting the same shot. Transient NBA fans are really sad. Almost as sad as the ridiculously horrible grammar.

Short of Scottie's famous walkover of Ewing (which I was at and count with the greatest moments of my life), Gibson's dunk over Wade is the best I can recall. That's the only other one I could think of off the top of my head.

They should make sure Blake Griffin is at game 2 with his dunk contest trophy in tow so he can hand it over to Taj. Two of the most awesome playoff dunks I can remember seeing.

Someone who doesn't understand jokes, apparently. Or, somebody that knows how to troll better than SSR?

If the Hawks win this series... do they fire Drew for keeping him on the bench all year? Is he this good, or is he getting ridiculously lucky with some of these shots? I've been watching Teague all year and I knew he deserved more playing time, but he never played like this. I think Drew wanted him off the bench just to give the second unit a little energy. Coming out of college, I thought he would be a starting point guard eventually. Just didn't know he would be showing up Rose in his second year.